On Monday night, the Akron City Council voted unanimously to repeal its anti-panhandling ordinance.  The law had been challenged in federal court on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment right to free speech by unconstitutionally limiting requests for help by the visibly poor.  The litigation was brought on behalf of 3 homeless clients by Professors Joseph Mead and Doron Kalir, law students Katie Weber and Emily Mikes who were enrolled in the Cleveland-Marshall Civil Litigation Clinic, in cooperation with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.